ARHC Will Help Achieve the Goal Of Viable Housing

Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India.   The lockdown has left large sections of the migrant working population (especially the daily wage earners) stranded in their cities of work, without any means of livelihood. This has created an unprecedented predicament for both the city and state governments as the workers, in the absence of any source of income whatsoever, wished to move back to their place of origin. Fearing for their health and safety, most migrant workers preferred to travel back to their family homes, rather than risk their lives to the epidemic by having to stay in their overcrowded, city dwellings. This has brought into sharp focus two important social issues: firstly, the need for better mass healthcare facilities, catering especially to the lower income strata in highly dense cities; and secondly, the need for better housing options for migrant workers. The Government’s directive towards developing Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for the urban poor is a welcome and necessary move needed to ensure long term social and economic development of the country. The lockdown had brought in socio-economic stress especially amongst the migrant labours, who are perhaps the prime movers of the economic development of the country. The pandemic further brought the requirement of the discussed residential category at the forefront. Having secured rental housing along with proper healthcare facilities will encourage the workers to stay within the peripheries of the established economically important hubs of the country. Going forward, we feel the policy will require an attitudinal shift from the industry stakeholders. Affordable rental housing is going to change the fabric of urban residential landscape and has the potential of becoming a prominent asset class for investment in the future. The success will largely be defined on how well we conceptualise Rental Housing in the same spirit as other infrastructural development such as highways, roads, industrial parks, etc. The Finance Minister also spoke of looking at the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to achieve this. While the steps are laudable, we feel this would require a change in attitude from the producers and users of real estate. Rental Housing will need to be understood in the same spirit as other infrastructural development such as highways, roads, industrial parks etc. Most importantly, there is a need to make creation of Rental Housing a viable option for participants for this to succeed.